The Green New Deal
is the worst proposal
I have ever heard.
I call it the Green New Ordeal.
There is no climate change
problem that needs a "solution",
not that a US Green Ordeal
would stop the rise of global
greenhouse gas emissions.
Based on real science, not science
fraud, this blog supports MORE CO2
in the atmosphere, if placed there
by burning fossil fuels with modern
pollution controls.
We have 300+ years of actual
experience with global warming,
of at least +2 degrees C., since the
cold 1690s.
The warming since then
has been good news
all the way, and CO2
did not cause much
of that +2 degrees C.
Our planet is
significantly
'greening'
from more CO2
in the air
Global cooling is not pleasant.
Global warming is.
Although the
Green New Deal
is unnecessary,
extremely expensive,
infeasible, and dumb
... and I have have
harshly criticized
the Green Ordeal
and it's chief sponsor,
Alexandria
Occasionally
Coherent,
many times on this blog,
I have never actually
given you details
of the proposal.
Green New Deal:
The GND sets out goals.
It is “the duty of the
Federal Government
to create a Green New Deal":
To achieve net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions
through a fair and just transition
for all communities and workers;
to create millions of good,
high-wage jobs
and ensure prosperity
and economic security
for all people
of the United States;
to invest in the
infrastructure and industry
of the United States
to sustainably meet
the challenges
of the 21st century;
to secure for all people
of the United States
for generations to come –
clean air and water;
climate and
community resiliency;
healthy food;
access to nature; and
a sustainable environment; and
to promote justice and equity
by stopping current,
preventing future,
and repairing
historic oppression
of indigenous peoples,
communities of color,
migrant communities,
de-industrialized communities,
depopulated rural communities,
the poor, low-income workers,
women, the elderly, the unhoused,
people with disabilities, and youth
(referred to in this resolution as
‘frontline and vulnerable communities’).”
The GND then lays out a
“10-year national mobilization"
that will require the following
goals and projects:
building resiliency against
climate change-related disasters,
such as extreme weather,
including by leveraging funding
and providing investments
for community-defined projects
and strategies;
repairing and upgrading
the infrastructure
in the United States, including –
by eliminating pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions
as much as technologically feasible;
by guaranteeing universal access
to clean water;
by reducing the risks
posed by climate impacts; and
by ensuring that any
infrastructure bill considered
by Congress addresses climate change;
meeting 100 percent of the power
demand in the United States through
clean, renewable, and zero-emission
energy sources, including –
by dramatically expanding
and upgrading renewable
power sources; and
by deploying new capacity;
building or upgrading
to energy-efficient,
distributed, and
‘smart’ power grids,
and ensuring affordable
access to electricity;
upgrading all existing buildings
in the United States and building
new buildings to achieve maximum
energy efficiency, water efficiency,
safety, affordability, comfort,
and durability, including
through electrification;
spurring massive growth
in clean manufacturing
in the United States
and removing pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions
from manufacturing and industry
as much as is technologically
feasible, including by expanding
renewable energy manufacturing
and investing in existing
manufacturing and industry;
working collaboratively
with farmers and ranchers
in the United States
to remove pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions
from the agricultural sector
as much as is technologically
feasible, including –
by supporting family farming;
by investing in sustainable farming
and land use practices
that increase soil health; and
by building a more sustainable
food system that ensures
universal access to healthy food;
overhauling transportation systems
in the United States to remove pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions
from the transportation sector
as much as is technologically feasible,
including through investment in –
zero-emission vehicle
infrastructure and manufacturing;
clean, affordable, and accessible
public transit; and high-speed rail;
mitigating and managing the
long-term adverse health, economic,
and other effects of pollution
and climate change, including by
providing funding for community-defined
projects and strategies;
removing greenhouse gases
from the atmosphere and reducing
pollution by restoring natural
ecosystems through proven l
ow-tech solutions that increase
soil carbon storage, such as land
preservation and afforestation;
restoring and protecting threatened,
endangered, and fragile ecosystems
through locally appropriate and
science-based projects that
enhance biodiversity and
support climate resiliency;
cleaning up existing
hazardous waste
and abandoned sites,
ensuring economic
development
and sustainability
on those sites;
identifying other emission
and pollution sources
and creating solutions
to remove them; and
promoting the
international exchange of
technology, expertise, products,
funding, and services, with the aim
of making the United States
the international leader
on climate action, and to help
other countries achieve
a Green New Deal.”
The GND then moves into
specific projects.
Specifically:
“To achieve the Green New Deal
goals and mobilization,
a Green New Deal will require
the following goals and projects:
providing and leveraging,
in a way that ensures
that the public receives
appropriate ownership stakes
and returns on investment,
adequate capital
(including through
community grants,
public banks,
and other
public financing),
technical expertise,
supporting policies,
and other forms
of assistance to communities,
organizations, Federal, State,
and local government agencies,
and businesses working
on the Green New Deal
mobilization;
ensuring that the Federal Government
takes into account the complete
environmental and social costs
and impacts of emissions through –
existing laws;
new policies and programs; and
ensuring that frontline and
vulnerable communities shall not
be adversely affected;
providing resources, training,
and high-quality education,
including higher education,
to all people of the United States,
with a focus on frontline
and vulnerable communities,
so that all people of the
United States may be full
and equal participants
in the Green New Deal mobilization;
making public investments
in the research and development
of new clean and renewable energy
technologies and industries;
directing investments to spur
economic development, deepen
and diversify industry and business
in local and regional economies,
and build wealth and
community ownership,
while prioritizing high-quality
job creation and economic,
social, and environmental benefits
in frontline and vulnerable communities,
and de-industrialized communities,
that may otherwise struggle
with the transition away
from greenhouse gas
intensive industries;
ensuring the use of democratic
and participatory processes
that are inclusive of and led
by frontline and vulnerable communities
and workers to plan, implement,
and administer the Green New Deal
mobilization at the local level;
ensuring that the Green New Deal
mobilization creates high-quality
union jobs that pay prevailing wages,
hires local workers, offers training
and advancement opportunities,
and guarantees wage and benefit
parity for worker affected
by the transition;
guaranteeing a job with
a family-sustaining wage,
adequate family and medical leave,
paid vacations, and retirement
security to all people
of the United States;
strengthening and protecting
the right of all workers to organize,
unionize, and collectively bargain
free of coercion, intimidation, and
harassment;
strengthening and enforcing labor,
workplace health and safety,
anti-discrimination, and wage and hour
standards across all employers,
industries, and sectors;
enacting and enforcing
trade rules,
procurement standards,
and border adjustments
with strong labor and
environmental protections –
to stop the transfer of jobs
and pollution overseas; and
to grow domestic
manufacturing
in the United States;
ensuring that public lands,
waters, and oceans are protected
and that eminent domain is not abused;
obtaining the free, prior,
and informed consent
of indigenous peoples
for all decision that affect
indigenous peoples
and their traditional territories,
honoring all treaties
and agreements
with indigenous peoples,
and protecting and enforcing
the sovereignty and land rights
of indigenous peoples;
ensuring a commercial environment
where every businessperson
is free from unfair competition
and domination by domestic
or international monopolies; and
providing all people
of the United States with –
high-quality health care;
affordable, safe,
and adequate housing;
economic security; and
clean water, clean air, healthy
and affordable food,
and access to nature.”